Mirabai Starr: Book Review

Author Mirabai Starr will be at Open Secret Bookstore, San Rafael, CA on Monday July 9 at 7pm! Her book is: God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Mirabai Starr has some terrific one-liners. “Sorrowing and rejoicing hook you up with the God of Love.” ~ “Maybe the most difficult stranger to welcome is the one who lives inside us.”

Mirabai Starr

There is an openness here that clearly welcomes those who question life and their own path. She takes us with her into a colorful collection of narratives from her own rich experience and that of Jewish, Christian and Muslim mystics. Her work is described as interspiritual. I like that word!

In the chapter, entitled: “Toward the One: The Unity of the Divine” she quotes from Isaiah 56:7 ~ My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. But she doesn’t leave you there. “One day when I was sixteen, as I was carrying groceries from the car to the house, I had an epiphany…” I love the way she moves from the groceries to the mystical… and back to groceries. This kind of story telling keeps me turning the pages. Real people. Real stories.

In person, Mirabai’s beautiful smile welcomes and lights up the room. “Every religion is welcome in my sacred library, and no topic is dismissed as heretical.”

Near the end is “Afterward: Walking the Interspiritual Path.” In this chapter she writes: “Choose at least one religious tradition different from your own and participate in a service… When we say yes to the God of Love in an unfamiliar, and potentially uncomfortable form, locks fly off the doors of the heart, making more room for the Mystery to dwell there,” and “invent your own prayers. It is not necessary to relegate this sacred function to religious professionals.”

This is the mark of a writer who has learned to squeeze the essence from the fruit of the experience many of us share. God of Love is a passionate, honest vessel of service: “I pray that my books may be a dipper of cool water in this burning world.” Amen Sister! <> <> <>

Biography: Mirabai Starr writes fiction, creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She teaches Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos and teaches and speaks widely on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss.

She has received critical acclaim for her revolutionary new translations of “Dark Night of the Soul” by 16th century Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross, and “The Interior Castle” and “The Book of My Life,” by St. Teresa of Avila. Her new book is God of Love, A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Monkfish Books, 2012.

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1 thought on “Mirabai Starr: Book Review”

Hayy Tamam, most Precious & Beloved Friend, thanks for this review & recommendation! I’ll be reading this book. I too love it when the Divine is experienced in the mundane. Like meeting Tara at the cashdesk 😀 (Btw I sold 2 of your books at Ruhaniat Summer School! Ya Huuuu! Love you ZubinNur xxx